Review: King Princess, Marble Factory – ‘She has become a queer icon’

If I had to describe a rock concert, a proper rock concert, before Wednesday I might have set it in a stadium with 90,000 capacity, cast my rockstar as a man who had hits in the 90s and leather trousers that no longer fit and given it a fun but predictable soundtrack.

This is so far from my perception of a rock concert – a proper rock concert – now.

King Princess’s gig is opened by the indie-punk duo Boyish, who spend their set dancing up and down the stage, chatting with the crowd and throwing audience-provided-balloons about for Claire’s, one of the members, birthday.

Their intense sense of fun ripples out into the audience on channels of lyrics about queerness and has their audience bouncing about among the words.

They set the tone perfectly for the second half of the night, King Princess’s set.

Far from the images of a middle aged man and leather trousers, Mikaela Straus, her real name, is introduced by a Drag Queen as “the reincarnated corpse of a Victorian boy” and comes out in a playsuit and heavy blush.

The first few songs played are from Hold On Baby, which, despite being from her new album, are sung word for word by the audience.

The opening songs Little Brother and Cursed show a pop-anthem side to Straus’ album, more closely aligned to Swift than to her old albums.

The third song of her set, Cursed, is a crunchier, drum driven whirlwind of sound in which a call and response “My God it’s so hard to be loved but…” “That’s life!!!” spins the evening into a powerful, joyful celebration of music.

From here, Straus plays a run of songs from Cheap Queen, her debut album. She leans into the jazz feel of this album, stretching chords, playing with rhythms and smirking when the crowd sings during her carefully placed pauses.

Here, she really starts to embrace the rockstar persona: Prophet features strobe lights and guitar solos and she stands there swinging the mic around her hips, waiting for the crowd to stop screaming.

Similarly, Hit The Back starts off softly, slowly with Straus on the keyboard but ends with her bouncing about the stage in a frenzy, her gravelly voice weaving through the layers of loose drums and shimmery guitar.

Before the dreamy riffs and screamable chorus of For My Friends, Straus gives a touching speech about queerness, family and love.

From the way the audience responds, it’s clear that King Princess has become a queer icon, immediately turning the Marble Factory into a community striving for nothing more than supporting each other, and having a dance.

She ends the night with a mix of songs from Cheap Queen and Hold On Baby showing that she’s able to mix her older, beloved album with the, often more experimental, newer album.

She plays Let Us Die, a song from the new album that seemingly harks back to the theatrical Ohio as well as the well loved Cheap Queen and 1950.

The songs beautifully coalesce; Straus’ sultry vocals and incredible stage presence bringing everything together. She sits by the barrier, as if the lyrics are a conversation with the audience and not simply a performance.

The encore ends the night in style: she saunters back onto stage to screeching applause, heralded by bright lights and the promise of an unparalleled finale.

She whips the Marble Factory up for one last time, turning it into a hair-flipping, lyric-crying explosion of euphoria; her final act is magnetic.

The longing ballad to Talia and the dramatics of Ohio ring through the venue long after she’s left the stage.

So now if I was asked to describe a rock concert – a proper rock concert – I might not think of an old man but instead a 24 year old queer icon in an intimate venue, looking like a drag-ified, sick Victorian boy who probably actually plays pop music.

Main photo: Danielle van Acker

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• Review: Men I Trust, SWX – ‘The whole show is gorgeously cosy’
• Review: Amanda Shires, The Exchange – ‘This is country music with thorns’

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